Is it legal to use Firesheep at Starbucks?

Malone said he suspected that before the law catches up to Firesheep and its ilk, Web sites will lock down their services, making the issue moot. That's also the hope of Eric Butler, the Seattle-based Web application developer who said he released Firesheep to raise awareness of the lack of Web site security.

"Maybe all the bad press [over Firesheep] will make people realize that there's a problem, and enough to shame sites into changing," Malone said. "Maybe this is the wake-up call we needed."